Solid fuel burning stoves using wood, coal, etc. as a source of radiant heat are becoming ever more popular. However, as a result of increased fuel costs and the rising concern with respect to air pollution, strict manufacturing requirements have been put into place regarding the efficiency of such stoves.
It is known that these stoves do in fact operate more efficiently and emit fewer pollutants as a result of higher burning temperatures within the stove. There are a number of prior art references which show means for injecting heated secondary air to the combustion chamber of a stove to provide a more complete and clean burning of the fuel within the stove. These references include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,766,876 issued Aug. 30, 1988 to Henry et al.; 4,677,965 issued Jul. 7, 1987 to Duerichen; 4,502,395 issued Mar. 5, 1985 to Barnett; 4,111,181 issued Sept. 5, 1978 to Canney; 4,360,000 issued Nov. 23, 1982 to Down; 4,343,288 issued Aug. 10, 1982 to Tjosvold; 4,672,946 issued Jun. 16, 1987 to Craver; 4,854,298 issued Aug. 8, 1989 to Craver; and 4,658,801 issued Apr. 21, 1987 to Black.
Some of the above structures such as the structure found in the Black patent use catalytic convertors for reducing exhaust pollution. These catalytic convertors are extremely expensive and subject to failure.
Generally all of the prior art structures require a substantial modification to a conventional solid fuel burning stove with a resultant dramatic increase in cost to the stove. Furthermore, the efficiency of operation of a number of these prior art structures is questionable.